Chrysalis
by LeoN WiNgsteiN
Summary: An AU of the infected!AU. In which both Leon and Helena are infected due to their exposure to the C-Virus in Resident Evil 6.
1. Chrysalis

_This is an AU of the infected!AU. It's complicated, just don't worry. In which both Leon and Helena are infected, due to their exposure to the C-Virus._

**Chrysalis**

"Oh my God," said Helena. She took a step nearer, still not sure if she was just having a nightmare, or if this was reality. She lifter her gun, and let it drop to her side again. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. Deborah had done it—now Leon, too? She buried her face in her hands, and the events from moments before played over in her mind.

The large B.O.W. had been waiting for them when they had landed in China, and Jake and Sherry had faced it with them. It was terrifying and large, bigger than any of the B.O.W.s Helena had seen before. It had taken a large supply of ammo to take it down, and her breath was short after having to breathe so much of the noxious gas that had been wafting around the airplane. It had gone down, though, finally. She had gone to Sherry, and tried to find out what was going on, or at least what they knew about it. It was then that she heard the grunt from behind her.

Helena had whipped around to see Leon kneeling to the ground in fatigue. Helena knew that it had been a trying past 24 hours, but now wasn't the time to take a rest—and Leon would know that. Jake held a hand out to him, but instantly withdrew it when he saw what was happening.

Before their eyes, Leon was becoming encases by a chrysalis. "Leon!" shouted Helena. He did not move or make any indication that he had heard her. Sherry was unable to make a sound. Jake joined Sherry and Helena, and Helena's hand went to her gun. She couldn't believe what she was doing as she unholstered it and held it up, pointing it at the nearly fully cocooned Leon. "Oh my God," she said.

"Helena," said Sherry, breaking Helena from her thoughts. "What are you doing?" There were tears on her face, and her eyes darted frantically from Helena's gun to Leon to Helena's face, and back again to the gun.

Helena's thoughts now flitted to Deborah. The same thing had happened to her: the chrysalis, the mutation, the _damned_ virus. Helena wiped tears from her eyes and mucus from her nose with her arm, unaware previously that they were even there. She steadied the gun in her shaking hand and kept it pointed at the now fully formed cocoon.

"I'm sorry," said Helena. "But we all know what has to be done." Her finger quivered on the trigger for a moment, and she turned away, squeezing her eyes shut as she pulled the trigger, feeling the shot's vibrations as they traveled through her body, knowing that she'd relive them over and over again, in countless nightmares that she'd doubtless have about this day. When she did open her eyes, she did it slowly, and turned to Leon's cocoon.

To her surprise, it was still there, in fully stature. Helena pulled the trigger again, and it simply clicked. The gun was empty. She felt at her belt and found no new clips. She turned to Sherry and Jake. "Sorry," said Jake. "I've got nothing." Helena turned back to the chrysalis and ran to it, striking it over and over again with her gun. A soft clank came from the strike, and Helena did it again, whacking her hands and gun against the shell. Her body was shaking, heaving with her sobs, which descended into a coughing fit.

Sherry stepped forward to comfort her, but then took a step back. "Oh my God," said Helena, looking at Leon's new form, incubating until he emerged as who knew what.

Sherry and Jake could have said the same thing, though, because at that moment, the same sort of chrysalis began to creep its way around Helena's body, though she didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were locked on Leon's cocoon as she was engulfed.


	2. What Family Is

**What Family Is**

"I'm calling Claire," said Sherry. "She'll get me in contact with Chris, and…"

"And what?" asked Jake. "He's not a big fan of B.O.W.s—I think we both know how that would go over."

"What the _hell_ else am I supposed to do?" asked Sherry, glaring into Jake's eyes. There were tears on her cheeks, but there were no new tears welling from her eyes. She unholstered her gun and threw it to the ground. "And this useless piece of _shit_, it's doing _nothing_, and I wouldn't be able to use it, even if I could—"

This was too much for her, and she fell to her knees, shaking with her sobs again. Jake took a step toward her and put his hand on her shoulder. He tried to get closer, but found himself unable to comfort her. He glanced over to the chrysalises, and wondered what he would do, had he the ammunition. He would fire, without thinking. But now, he wasn't going to shoot them, not with the way that Sherry was attached to them. She wouldn't be able to do it, and he knew that without her permission, he wouldn't do it either. Because they mattered to her, and he knew that taking something from someone, something that mattered, especially someone's _family_…

Sherry began to straighten up. She wiped the tears from her face. "Do we have a perimeter?" she asked. Jake took a step back.

"What?"

"Do we have a perimeter?" She strode around him as she spoke. "Are there any people around here that might stumble upon us?

"I'm pretty sure that giant B.O.W. may have been a bit of a deterrent to anyone who might come snooping," said Jake. "We should have at least a little bit of time."

"Okay, well, I'm calling Claire. We need to get these out of here, hopefully before they emerge."

Jake looked at Sherry, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said, we have to get rid of them, before someone comes and kills them!"

"That's what I thought you said!" said Jake. "That's—idiotic!"

"What do you mean?" asked Sherry. "That's Leon! He's my family!"

"He's going to emerge as a monster!" said Jake. "You know how the C-virus works! Do you really want to roll those dice?"

"I do!" said Sherry. "Leon did for me."

Jake was about to retort, but he was unable to. He shot a glance at the two cocoons, thinking of the people who were inside of them. Leon meant a lot to Sherry, and Helena meant a lot to him. There would have destroyed them, or let them be destroyed, were Sherry not there, he knew, but she was there, and as dumb as her thoughts might be, they were valid. And they were important to Jake, though he might reluctantly admit that to himself.

"When I was infected with the G-virus, I was twelve years old, and I could have been just left behind. Leon and Claire found the cure for me, the cure that my mother and father had made." Her gaze met Jake's. "I can't leave him behind. Because he didn't leave me behind."

Jake gave a curt nod. He didn't know much about family, but that sort of loyalty was what he imagined that it would be based on, and it was something that he could admire. "Alright," he said. "We'll get these out of here, but we have to act fast—"

A loud crack filled the air, and both Sherry and Jake whipped their heads around to see what had caused it. The back of Leon's chrysalis had split open, and some steam was drifting out of it. Both of them raised their guns before remembering that they were out of ammunition. Jake reholstered his gun, and Sherry just held hers down at her side.

There was another crack as the split in the chrysalis spread, and the husk fell down to the asphalt, clunking as it went. An oozy figure stood, rising to be a foot or two taller than Leon actually was. Sherry and Jake steadied themselves for what was to come. The figure simply stood there for a moment, slime dripping off of it to the ground. Suddenly, a pair of gargantuan, leathery wings shot out to the sides of the being, forming a wingspan of about twenty feet. Ooze whipped off of them as the being shook them out. It took a step forward, on clawed feet, and grasped its clawed hands. It opened its mouth, with fangs bared, and then closed it. It opened it again and let out a screech, flashing its wild yellow eyes around the cargo area, finally focusing on the other chrysalis.

Sherry almost jumped when the other chrysalis let out a large crack as well. Jake tensed even further and held out a hand between Sherry and the emerging creatures, separating her from them. He watched in awe as something raised itself out of the chrysalis, with many tiny, insect-like legs scuttling out of the enclosure. It then stood to its full height, almost a humanoid physique, but incredibly bug-like, with a familiar face. It opened its mouth to let out a screech itself, revealing mandibles that slid from the inside sides of its mouth. The two mutants stood, facing each other.

"Helena…" said Leon, as mutated as he was. The recognition shone in his eyes, and the large bio-organic weapon that he now was took a step nearer to her.

"L-Leon," she chittered in reply, taking a tentative step toward him.

Leon lowered his large wings, letting them fold up like extra legs behind him. Helena's extra arms rested at her back. They observed each other for a moment, not paying any attention to the two humans watching them. Then, they embraced. They were ravaged by the virus, yes, and they were much different than they were, but they were still who they were.

"Leon!" shouted Sherry. She ran forward to the two. Jake reached out, trying to grab her hand as she ran past, but she slipped away. She ran and stopped just before she got to the two of them. Pictures flashed through her mind, of the different bio-organic weapons that she had faced throughout her life, more recently with Jake, and as a child with Leon and Claire. She had always been afraid of them, but she had always had _someone_ to face them with her.

She looked up at Helena, and then over to Leon. His face was contorted, different than it had looked in his human form. His hair was familiar, though, impeccable as always, and in his pale yellow eyes, she could see him, still present, still there. She stepped forward suddenly and embraced him, ignoring the way that his leathery skin felt to her, and that she was also grasping Helena's new exoskeleton. She did have someone to face the world with. Leon and Helena were surprised at first, but then returned the hug whole-heartedly.

_Based (in part) on impalallama's designs of Helena: post/81649847921/did-someone-ask-for-an-infected-helena-hello-she and of Leon: post/80541176139/infected-au-helena-is-having-none-of-your-shit_


	3. Calls for Help

"I'm calling Claire," said Sherry. "She will be able to get on Chris's good side for me, and then…"

"Sherry," said Jake, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You're doing the right thing. And I'm ready. But keep in mind that none of these people like me. And while I'm here for you…"

"Jake," said Sherry. "I won't let them do anything to you. You're with me." She put a hand on is and gave it a light squeeze. Then, she pulled up her comm device and pressed a button before putting it to her ear, pacing away from Jake. "I'd like to connect to Captain Redfield, please," she said into the cell phone-looking device. She waited a moment before she got through. "Chris?" she said. "It's Sherry. I've got a situation—yeah, China. You're here?" She glanced back to Jake. "By the harbor. And when you show up, I have some explaining to do. Don't come in blazing—I have some friendly B.O.W.s. No, I know what I said. I'll explain when you get here. Find me by my device—the GPS should get you here." She pulled the comm device from her head and began poking at it.

"How'd it go?" asked Jake.

"As well as I expected," said Sherry. "Keep an eye on those two—I'm calling Claire." She held her comm deceive to her head and tapped her foot while she waited for Claire to pick up. "Claire!" she exclaimed as the line connected. "Yeah, it's me. Sherry. No, no—well, actually, something's kind of wrong, but I have it under control for the moment." She paused. "No, check the news. We're in China right now. We just took down a rather nasty B.O.W. and have another issue on our hands." She nodded. "Yeah, that was us. Me and Jake. Jake Muller. Don't worry about it. Just listen—Leon and his new partner are infected. C-virus. They're—no, no, _listen_—they're stable, and sentient. We've got an eye on it but Chris is coming." She sighed. "Think of Steve," she said. She hated that she had to pull that card. "What would you have—no, Claire, they're docile. But I'm going to need to convince Chris. And…" Sherry listened for a moment. Her eyes turned down. "I don't know," she said, quieter. "I really don't. But I need to do _something_. They aren't attacking—they can speak, a little, and they've kept their minds. I think with—with help, they can…" She nodded. "Yeah." She took a deep breath.

"I can't lose him, either. I love you, too." She smiled, her eyes growing damp. "Bye." She pulled the comm device away from her face slowly, and thumbed the "end" button before stashing it. She turned back to Jake. "We should be fine. It's just them," she nodded over to the two mutated agents who were looking each other over, understanding the new changes their bodies had gone through. "We need to make sure they remain calm, and that they don't get out."

"Look, I don't know how to deal with one of these things," said Jake, "other than try to kill it, or run from it."

"We can't think of them as 'those things'—they're Leon and Helena. They just helped us kill the other B.O.W. And even were that not the case, I owe Leon my life." She started over to them. "We just have to make sure that they don't freak out when the B.S.A.A. arrives.

"I hope _I_ don't freak out when the B.S.A.A. arrives," muttered Jake under his breath, but he jogged after her, to where Leon and Helena were still looking at their own bodies, figuring out just what was different about them. For the both of them, their bodies were very different than they were before. Helena looked like a giant humanoid insect of some sort, and Leon's gigantic wings and stretched out skin was rather grotesque. They looked over when Sherry and Jake came over.

"Listen," said Sherry. "I have some backups coming over from the B.S.A.A., led by Chris—and I warned them not to be confrontational, but I don't see them being anything but confrontational. So whatever you do, don't engage with them. They're here to help, but they won't hesitate to do what they've been trained to do."

Leon nodded, and Helena blinked her eyes. Sherry noticed the second eyelid as it pulled back vertically, like that of a gecko. "We will be—well—behaved," said Leon, choking out the words. He frowned slightly, clearly disappointed or ashamed that this words would not form as they were supposed to, and that he was reduced to speaking like a child.

"It's going to be okay," said Sherry. She laid a hand on Leon's arm. "You're going to be okay, and you're going to make it through this. It's just like in Raccoon—you're a survivor. That's what you told me then, and it's what I'm telling you now."

Leon laid his large claw on top of Sherry's small hand, and though he was a large biological weapon, she didn't feel any of the evil that usually flowed through them—she could feel _him_, still there, never having left. She glanced up at Helena, who managed a rough smile as well. Behind them, a couple of Humvees pulled up, and Sherry broke off from the two bio-organic weapons to meet the agents as they came out of the cars.

"Sherry!" shouted Chris, running over to her, his team in tow. He hesitated and began to raise his fun when he caught sight of Leon and Helena. "Holy shit," he said. "Sherry, what the hell have you…?"

"I know," she said, pushing his gun downward as she came up to meet him. "But it's Leon—and Helena Harper. They're U.S. agents, and they're still _themselves_, somehow."

"How long have they been like this?" asked the man who had come forward with Chris, standing to his right.

"Since about five minutes before I called you,' she said. "And they still haven't exhibited any violent behavior—they're just confused. And scared."

"Piers," said Chris to the man beside him. "Go call in for a B.O.W. transport—a live one. Explain the situation." The man nodded.

"Yes, Captain," he said, glaring at Jake as he walked by, and then jogging back to the Humvee to get on the radio with the B.S.A.A. headquarters.

"Thank you, Chris," said Sherry.

"They had better be as calm as you've promised," said Chris. "If they hurt _any_ of my men, I won't hesitate to…"

"I know," said Sherry. "And Claire's coming in, too—to HQ—she'll be helping out."

"You went over my head?" asked Chris. "That's a little diabolical."

Sherry shrugged. "I wasn't sure what your reaction to this would be—I wanted to have an ally that you trusted." Jake almost made eye contact with Chris at that moment, but looked away.

Chris gave her a slight grin, and his eyes wandered to Leon and Helena, who were standing patiently a little ways off, as to not seem confrontational. Chris brushed past Sherry and Jake and approached them.

"Agent Kennedy," he greeted, "and Agent Harper, is it?" She gave a nod. "The B.S.A.A. is coming in for an extraction—a bigger extraction than me and my team trying to fit you in our trucks." The attempt at humor wasn't really lightening the mood. "I trust in you, because Sherry trusts in you. But keep in mind what you are now. We'll do what we can with you, but remember that you are not what we've sworn ourselves to wiping out." He paused. "I'm glad you're still there. It'd be—it'd be a damn shame were we to lose you. I'm sorry that this happened…"

Leon gave him a smile, a toothy, slightly bloody-looking smile, but a smile nonetheless. Helena reached out a hand to shake Chris's, but then remembered that she now had insectoid claws. She began to pull back, but Chris grabbed her claw and shook it. Behind them, Jake laid a hand on Sherry's shoulder and she breathed a sigh of relief.


End file.
